Monday, 15 June 2015

middle of june

Until Saturday it had been a fantastic week of weather here in the midlands. Yesterday morning we woke to glorious sunlight streaming through the skylights above our bed, not a cloud in sight. For the first time ever we were all up and sorted and heading to the plot at just after half 9 on a Sunday morning. Motivating 2 teens at that time on a Sunday is no easy task but they were happy to get out for a while.

All 6P's hit the plot for a change. Bob was on Charlie (our little Shih Tzu dog) and photo duty while the rest of us set to digging.

Think CP is digging for treasure, fully absorbed either way.

Mark finishing digging and tidying up before planting

Really need to remind KP how to use a spade, this could have ended in tears.

Girls getting to grips with their bed.

I took on the job of weeding Cecelia.

Everything seemed to be coming along nicely, however we have lost all our carrots again this year. The seeds germinated and carrots had broken the surface, however, they have all gone now. We've also lost several beetroot. We had two full rows last week but there are big gaps between plants now. Luckily I planted some more at home with a view to transplanting so should have enough to fill the gaps. I also have some carrots that were started in trays so they will be used to fill the gaps. We have an abundance of radish so will try to carefully separate and move some. Looking a little bare at the moment for mid June although the corn is finally starting to go. Once they're past bunny fodder size I can shorten Cecelia and leave them uncovered.

Mark and I have spent quite a few hours in the evening this week weeding and sorting our new herb bed on 47. It was getting harder to dig the more the sun baked the soil so we were very grateful for Saturday's downpour.

This is what we started with....

...and here's the finished bed. We've planted 4 different varieties of mint (in pots), lemon balm (also in a pot buried in the soil) rosemary, sage, 3 varieties of thyme, coriander, fennel and a curry plant. We know that the curry plant isn't the one used for curries, however we love the smell and the silvery gray colour provides a nice contrast in the bed.

The Turks Turban that I donated to our neighbours seems to be struggling. I think we have lost one and the other is looking very sorry for itself. I made sure that I put several good spade fulls of compost in with each plant and have been making sure they do not get too dry, however something more drastic is needed. My nettle stew is now ready so a good feed of that will hopefully give them a boost.

So what's next this week? Filling the holes in Cecelia and tackling this bed.

The girls dug the large weeds out of this bed. Mark took the path up in the middle. Next up rotavate and plant with the many seedlings that the girls planted the other week, which have now come up.